Talk:Wesley Willis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is part of WikiProject Illinois, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to Illinois on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article, or visit the project page to join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. |
| B | This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale. |
| Low | This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale. |
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Chicago, which aims to improve all articles related to Chicago. |
| B | This article has been rated as B-class on the quality scale. |
| Low | This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale. |
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page. | ||
| B | This article has been rated as B-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ] | ||
Contents |
[edit] Relationships with other artists?
Willis was pretty well respected in the underground scene, for several reasons, and formed real friendships and financial relationships with several well-known recording artists, most notably Jello Biafra. I think the article would be well served by including those artists, and the details of their relationships with Willis, to provide readers a greater context to understand Willis's character. HavePatience 01:45, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Live
I saw Wesley Willis in concert once, in San Diego, California. I had no idea what I was in for, as I was there for a different band. My business partner Tim Shell's brother (Scott Shell) was touring with Wesley Willis, and drove across country with him. I went to see Scott.
Anyhow, from the first yelled "Don't make me madder than I already am" to the last song about licking Bactrian camel's asses, it was jaw-dropping. I'm not saying it was good, because it certainly wasn't. But I will say that I don't expect to ever see another show like that in my entire life. Jimbo Wales 22:48, 2 Sep 2003 (UTC)
[edit] Monzy.org
I removed the monzy.org link mainly because it contained false statements, such as that Wesley was ever homeless and that he used a Casio keyboard. —Taco Deposit 19:46, Apr 18, 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Covers
The trivia section contains the false statement that WW only did one cover song. In addition to "Girls On Film", he covered Pure Prairie League's "Amie". (I've heard it; it's definitely Willis.) -- Antaeus Feldspar 03:31, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Additions
Any objections to some reorganization and addtions of sections one generally finds on other band/artist pages? Discography, Singles, etc..., maybe use some infoboxes and other stylizations? --Tarc 14:16, 21 October 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Demons
I agree with the suggestion that the article about Warhellrides be added to the general Wesley Willis article (perhaps on the first paragraph where it describes his "demons"). --psychicbooty 15:58, 09 February 2006 (EST)
- I remember him using the term "demon hellride" -- Gerkinstock 02:48, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Artist
I really think that this articles focus is only on Wesley as a MUSICIAN when he was also a fantastic ARTIST way before and right up until his death and his output of his street art was affected by his mental condition. There is no mention of his ART which is collected and sold in major galeries all around the world today. There is only a link to a site at the bottom of the article. Wesley Willis was far more than a musician and until this article states this it is incomplete.Caniman 07:00, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
- Word, dude. ~ RLD(user:RDSVN01)
[edit] Other songs about Wesley and reciprocal artist compositions.
PLease note: I am not 100% positive on wich Rob Crow band incarnationactually recorded the song, but Rob's devotion to Wesley goes way back. That bveing said, I'm pretty sure it was the San Diego band Thingy which recorded possibly the best (and sweetest) song about him, on their second album. I believe the song was simply titled "Wesley Willis", which was also the chorus of the song. The song was penned by Rob Crow, subject of the Willis Song, "Rob Crow", and formerly of the bands Heavy Vegetable, Physics, Optigonally Yours (showcasing the home-organ-like keyboard instrument the Optigon which played pre-recorded samples from optical disks, using similiar technology to optical sound track(s) on the edges of older film prints), and Fantasy Mission Force, probably inspired as much musically as in name by the so-titled Jackie Chan film. Crow is now half of the creative team behind the supercool indie band Pinback, touring April and May 2006 in the US and Canada.
- I've added this to the references list-- it may have been released in other forms, but I know it was released as "Song for Wesley" on HV's "Frisbie." 68.35.68.100 20:41, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
The following has been moved from the main article to here-- this should be clarified before it's part of the article. 68.35.68.100 20:43, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
- Wesley Willis also did a spoken introduction for a band from Chicago called The Blue Meanies. He would introduce them, and then they would immediately start playing right after. Not sure if he actually introduced them more than once, and I'm pretty sure they just played a recording of him at their shows. You can hear the intro on their live CD.
---Also, Willis was an "artist" no matter what his medium was (music, VISUAL art, etc). Remember - artist is a generic term for any person engaged in arts endeavors - an actor is an artist, a writer is an artist. If you want to talk about his marker drawings, then these are visual arts/visual media.
hmj
[edit] "African American artist"
I have a small style point to pick at, and I may be unclear about Wikipedia's style. Wesley Willis is described in the first sentence here as an "African-American musician." Generally it is not preferable to identify a person's ethnicity unless that is especially pertinent (for example, identifying the ethnicity of an accused perpetrator or victim in what is perhaps a racially-motivated crime, or identifying the ethnicity of someone who broke some cultural stereotypes relating to ethnicity). One could perhaps make an argument that Willis' being African American is significant, but nothing else in the article suggests that. Other artists with Wikipedia articles only bring up that person's ethnicity when it is newsworthy (or encyclopedia-worthy). Until something is written in the article about how Willis' blackness affected him or others, I think that is irrelevant information. I think the first sentence should read, "Wesley Willis (May 31, 1963 – August 21, 2003) was a musician and artist from Chicago, Illinois."
Rock over London, rock on New Orleans. Taco Bell: think outside the bun.
- I agree with you, and removed the unnecessary adjective. --supspirit 11:11, 07 November 2006 (EST)
[edit] Sources
Since this article bears the {{unreferenced|date=June 2006}} tag, I am going to try and dig out an issue of the Short-lived early '90s Chicago magazine Pure that had the first interview with WW I ever read, even before I ran into him (ouch!) at Metro. If anybody has access to old issues of NewCity Chicago, there was an interview with WW circa 1998.--Theodore Kloba 14:47, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
- The book Songs in the Key of Z by Irwin Chusid is also a possible source. — Gwalla | Talk 07:34, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Nonsense deleted
Deleted the following:
as.no/emneomrader/media/tre+ganger+feil+p%E5+vg-lista/art311194.html "Three times error on 'VG-lista'", an from that period, stating "The Fiasco are crooks. They stole all my money. I don't do Fiasco songs no more."
Hope you don't mind.
[edit] "Winamp, it really whips the llama's ass".
The Willis-inspired demo.mp3 that one gets upon intallation of Winamp is referenced twice in the Winamp article but not here. Any reason? I'd add it but have yet to edit any Wiki article myself.. --Villemar —Preceding comment was added at 19:16, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
